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LEHI, Utah (AP) -- Boil-water orders commonly last for only a few days, but the one affecting nearly 500 Lehi homes is still in effect after more than a week and health officials have yet to find the source of the bacterial contamination.
"We're still trying to determine what the heck is causing the bacteria," said Kevin Brown, director of the state Division of Drinking Water.
Shock treatments with chlorine failed to cure the problem, and the city has set up a system to continually pump chlorine into the water supply. They hope it eventually will end the contamination, but it has not yet done so.
"Never before in Utah County has an issue like this gone on so long," said Justin Jones, Utah County Health Department spokesman. "Typically if a boil order has been issued it will last a couple days.... Not in the last 20 years has anything like this gone on this long."
"We're exhausting all of our thoughts on what the potential (source) could be and so far we're coming up empty," Brown said. "With the amount of construction going on down there, it could be anything."
Brown said construction crews sometimes leave pipes open when laying water lines, then at night, animals will crawl in and later die, contaminating the water supply.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
